Well, I guess third time’s the charm because Smashing Magazine finally made it. Their third volume hits the nail on all chapters and it’s just a joy to read.

Redesign The Web

If you read my review of their previous book you’ll understand why I had low expectations on this one. Gladly, it surprised me from the beginning. The whole book had a theme – Redesign the Web – and all topics were somehow connected.

The authors and the mood of the writting is changed as well. It feels more personal, like a friendly talk with some really smart guys.

The Content

Being a front-end developer, I was eager to see what they were going to publish about html5, css3 and javascript. It’s hard to approach subjects dense like these in just a few pages, but they manage to do it well. I liked the way they introduced content and concepts that are easy to understand if you are a beginner but just a couple of lines later they pump it up so advanced users can see the complex side of the same situation.

The CSS part is genius. My favourite part was an example on transitions that featured racing horses. But the best chapter in the book, personally, is the one on Javascript. Christian Heilmann will teach you how pure javascript can sometimes be better than jQuery. This is mind-blowing and every front-end developer should read it.

Another part that deserves mention is the one on Photoshop, although I’d like to see more screenshots among the content. Nonetheless, it’s another great chapter. One of the great tips they wrote is about using Photoshop slices for css sprites. I never thought about that and it makes perfect sense!

You Want Need This Book

With a new approach and a refreshed idea, the Smashing Book 3 is definitely a book I recommend.